Help record the 2025 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast later today (June 21, 2025)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch!

After successful listener events from years past, I’m once again calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today and share it here on the SWLing Post. Details on this below.

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message via the British DX Club:

Shortwave schedule 2130-2200 UTC on 5960 UAE, 9575 Ascension Island, 12065 Woofferton (UK), 13810 Woofferton (UK).

A slightly shorter version will be carried the same day from 1832-1900 UTC on BBC World Service English streams online as well as via DAB in the UK.

Recording the Midwinter Broadcast has become an SWLing Post community tradition! Read our previous post for more details.

I’m especially fond of this broadcast as it always falls on my birthday and it’s always fun capturing this unique DX!

Share your recording and notes with us!

Comment with your recording!

During the Midwinter broadcast, I will publish a dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2024 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. When this post is available, I will link to it here. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

So that there’s no confusion, I’ve turned off comments on this post so that comments are left on the appropriate article.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of the dedicated post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services–like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Voice of Nigeria Plans Antenna Reactivation for Broader African Broadcasts

Thanks to a tip from SWLing Post contributor Paul Walker, who spotted the news via WRTH and Mauno Ritola, we’ve learned that Voice of Nigeria (VON) is planning to reactivate its shortwave antenna system to better serve audiences across Africa.

According to a recent article from VON, the broadcaster aims to significantly expand its reach and improve signal quality as part of a renewed effort to fulfill its international broadcasting mission. The reactivation comes amid a broader strategic push to reassert Nigeria’s presence in regional and global media through improved technical infrastructure.

Read the full article on VON’s website

WA2XMN Revives Armstrong’s Legacy with 90th Anniversary Broadcast on 42.8 MHz

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Conrad Trautmann, who shares the following guest post:


42.8 MHz WA2XMN FM Goes On The Air!

6/19/2025

By Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH

Stephen Hemphill, WA3ZAE, the owner of Solid Electronics Laboratories, fired up a vintage FM tube Phasitron transmitter on 42.8 MHz to put WA2XMN on the air at exactly 12:30 pm EDT today from the famous Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey. “W2XMN” was the call sign of Edwin Howard Armstrong’s experimental FM station that went on the air in 1936. “WA2XMN” is the official FCC call sign for the station Hemphill constructed with the cooperation of the tower site owners to commemorate Armstrong’s contribution to radio, Frequency Modulation.

W2XMN building at the Alpine Tower site

Hemphill explained that he attended a Society of Broadcast Engineers meeting that was celebrating Armstrong’s accomplishments, which sparked the idea of going on the air again on that original frequency. He thought it would be perfect to aim for the 70th anniversary of the first public broadcast of wideband FM. That anniversary celebration and broadcast was held on June 11, 2005. Today’s broadcast marks 90 years since that first FM Broadcast and 20 years since the commemorative event.

Hemphill built a transmitter based on the design of a General Electric BT-1-B, but on the lower frequency than what we now know as the standard FM band. Once turned on, the transmitter made 250 watts with no problem with a little headroom to spare and after warming up and settling in, had less than one watt reflected into 400+ feet of 1 ¼” transmission line into a vertical “ringo” antenna on the top, Western facing arm of the famous tower.

Stephen Hemphill poses with his Phasitron FM transmitter tuned to 42.8 MHz

Dual Eimac 4-250a power amplifier tubes

Armstrong Tower in Alpine, NJ (the vertical antenna is up there, trust me)

The audio broadcast today was mostly replays of the 70th anniversary event recordings. A temporary studio was set up in the tower site office building. The event was also streamed live over the internet.

WA2XMN temporary studio and audio processing.

Stephen Hemphill at the controls

The main audio mixing console used was a Gately Electronics Attache Case six channel mixer. Audio processing was done with a vintage Orban Optimod 8100A.

Gately Electronics Attache Case Mixer (apologies to all audio engineers for the pinned meters)

During the event, a web site address for enthusiasts to provide reception reports was given out. While we don’t have those reports yet, I contacted an amateur radio friend who was able to hear the station clearly 61 miles away in Ronkonkoma, NY on the eastern end of Long Island. That’s pretty good coverage for 250 watts!

Coupled with the special event broadcast was the annual picnic gathering of the New York Chapter of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, Chapter 15. Roughly 45 people attended and in addition to seeing the WA2XMN transmitter, they also got a first hand look at a few of the old Empire State Building FM Master antenna elements. Here’s a photo of your author standing next to one for perspective. I’m 6’ 5”.

To read more about this antenna and its history, visit this page researched and written by Paul Thurst, KH2R, owner of the “Engineering Radio” blog.

Conrad, N2YCH with an Alford antenna element from the Empire State Building

Pope Leo XIV Visits Vatican Radio’s Shortwave Center at Santa Maria di Galeria

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors who shared the following news via Vatican News on Facebook. Below you’ll find an English translation and the original in Italian (note that all photos are courtesy of Vatican News):

This morning, June 19, #PopeLeoXIV visited Santa Maria di Galeria, in the extraterritorial area where the shortwave Radio Center of #VaticanRadio, Dicastery for Communication, is located. He met with the staff, with whom he stayed and conversed ?, visited the transmitter hall designed by architect Pier Luigi Nervi, and sat in the control room for the shortwave broadcasts.

The Pope inquired about the functioning of the antennas, the broadcasts, and the digital disaster recovery system, and celebrated with the staff ? his 43rd anniversary of priesthood, which falls today.

The Pontiff emphasized how, during his missionary work in Latin America and Africa, it was invaluable to be able to receive the shortwave broadcasts of Vatican Radio, which reach places where few stations are able to, and he reaffirmed the missionary value of communication.

The Radio Center was inaugurated by Pope Pius XII in 1957.

The last visit by a Pope to the Radio Center and the area of Santa Maria di Galeria was in 1991, when John Paul II went there.

[Original version in Italian]

Questa mattina, 19 giugno, #PapaLeoneXIV è andato in visita a Santa Maria di Galeria, nella zona extraterritoriale dove sorge il Centro Radio in onda corta della #RadioVaticana, Dicastero per la Comunicazione. Ha incontrato il personale, con cui si è trattenuto in conversazione, ha visitato la sala trasmettitori progettata dall’architetto Pier Luigi Nervi e si è seduto nella sala di controllo per le trasmissioni in onda corta.

Il Papa si è informato sul funzionamento delle antenne, delle trasmissioni e del sistema di digital disaster recovery, e con il personale ha celebrato con un piccolo rinfresco il suo 43° anniversario di sacerdozio, che cade oggi.

Il Pontefice ha sottolineato come durante il suo lavoro missionario in America Latina e Africa sia stato prezioso poter ricevere le trasmissioni in onde corte della Radio Vaticana, che raggiungono luoghi dove poche emittenti riescono ad arrivare, e ha riaffermato il valore missionario della comunicazione.

Il Centro Radio è stato inaugurato da Papa Pio XII nel 1957.

L’ultima visita di un Papa al Centro Radio e alla zona di Santa Maria di Galeria risale al 1991, anno in cui vi si recò Giovanni Paolo II.

Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2025 – 70th Anniversary Edition: Tune in Saturday, June 21, 2025

Each year, we look forward to one of the most unique traditions in the world of shortwave radio: the BBC’s Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast—a special program beamed to a handful of overwintering scientists and support staff at British Antarctic research stations.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the broadcast, and it promises to be a particularly memorable one. Hosted by Cerys Matthews, the program features personal messages from friends and family back home, as well as music requests from those wintering in Antarctica.

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

SWLing Post readers around the globe regularly tune in and make off-air recordings of this remarkable broadcast, sharing reception reports and recordings from every corner of the planet. It’s one of our favorite annual traditions!

SWling Post contributor Richard Langley, noted that a test broadcast last Saturday (20:30 UTC) used the following frequencies:

  • 5960 kHz – UAE
  • 9575 kHz – Ascension
  • 13810 kHz – Woofferton

UPDATE (19 June 2025) – Richard adds the following:

According to the British DX Club:
“Saturday 21 June 2025: at 1832-1900 and 2130-2200 UTC.

BBC World Service annual mid-winter broadcast to Antarctica for British Antarctic Survey staff working at UK bases on Antarctica’s midwinter’s day.

Shortwave schedule 2130-2200 UTC on 5960 UAE, 9575 Ascension Island, 12065 Woofferton (UK), 13810 Woofferton (UK).

A slightly shorter version will be carried the same day from 1832-1900 UTC on BBC World Service English streams online as well as via DAB in the UK.”

Frequencies will likely be posted on this page for the official broadcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct7zyv

As always, we’ll post an article here on Saturday as the broadcast begins, where you can share your own reception reports, audio clips, and impressions in the comments section—just as we’ve done in years past.

Stay tuned—once the official frequencies are confirmed, we’ll post them here as well.

Happy DXing, and let’s celebrate midwinter together—wherever you are in the world!

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Reports and Recordings of CGTN Radio (China) and Kyodo News (Japan)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of recent CGTN broadcasts along with a Kyodo News radiofax.


Click here to view on YouTube.


Click here to view on YouTube.

Kyodo News Radiofax

Kyodo News Morning Edition, radiofax received in Porto Alegre, June 16, 16970 kHz (USB):

  • Iranian oil facilities attacked, missiles fired into northern Israel
  • Two Democratic state legislators shot, one dead, ‘politically motivated’
  • Agriculture Minister (of Japan) announces review of rice statistics
  • Trump aims to show power as he holds first military parade in 34 years in US capital
  • Former French president Sarkozy stripped of top French medal after conviction
  • Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro dies at age 95